This is the city: Los Angeles, California. I work here. I'm an ex-mayor. Los Angeles is a magnet for people from all over the world. Some of them run for public office. Inevitably some of them stray from the golden rule and rule for those that have the gold. That's when I go to work. My name is Yorty. I'm a dead pol.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Zuma Dogg notes a startling item buried in Wednesday's City Council agenda. According to Mr. Dogg "if measures are not taken, 56% of the city's general fund, 56% of every L.A. City dollar, will have to go to cover the city employee's pension and retirement funds." Zuma accuses officials charged with investing employee pensions of playing "fast and loose with the city taxpayer money" and that actions of the Mayor caused the funds to lose $7 billion in the last year, leading to what one unnamed Council Member calls "Armageddon." Say what you want about Zuma Dogg, but he's been consistently right in his financial predictions. Read more at Zuma Times.

Dueling polls and press releases Wednesday from both the Carmen Trutanich and Jack Weiss City Attorney campaigns. Both campaigns have wildly different interpretations of where the race currently stands. Still the view of many political watchers is that Weiss is in trouble.

19 Comments:

Anonymous said:

Good information Zuma. Keep on them hard. You do a great job at council.

I think its a great idea to let the people elect a Chief of LAPD. That way Antonio can't be the onlly decision maker. Antonio is now allowing illegals to get checking accounts using fade ID cards. The illegals have closed our health clinics, over crowded our schools, ruined our city with trash and illegal vending yet the Mayor keeps catering and giving them shit. Watch our banks go under. Thanks to the mayor all the illegals have to do is show a fake ID card. The drug cartel violence in Mexico is getting worst and military are being called in. Antonio like the idiot he is invites the President of Mexico to LA last year. He really is as stupid as he looks.

The Mayor appointed David Fleming to Agency Board. Talk about corruption, city hall is at its high level of corruption and why isn't the media reporting it. Fleming was a Valley sessesionist. He was LA Chamber who with League of Women Voters pushed for term limits, has gone on trips with Mayor to Washington and overseas and this is his payback.

Then the LAUSD with Antonio's friend as President Monica Garcia has all their corruption going on with consultants. You don't have to look at Washington for crap its here in LA.

.....According to district sources, the audit found that $186 million was paid to 1,277 outside consultants in 2006-07, averaging $145,653 per person that year. The audit's findings mirrored an earlier analysis by the Daily News that found the district spent $182 million on 849 consultants - about $215,000 each - in the 2007-08 year.

On second thought because the election process in Los Angeles is so damn corrupt there shouldn't be anymore. There are too many illegal Latinos that are voting because of the Mayor. The Mayor has told people he wants to see the first Latino Chief. Hell No!!!! Look what we got with him, an uneducated, corrupt, pay to play, embarrassing Mayor. I say everyone should speak out and say NO.

Nothing like stirring up panic over an earthquake, Higby. Though you're not alone -- KTLA showed a Hollywood supply store which can't keep its earthquake kits in stock, and they said while everyone should be better prepared for a quake, the fears are being fueled by blogs where a lot of not so stable people tend to gather.

At another part of this thread, one of your links goes to some nobody on Twitter who uses as his "proof" your own bogus thread from yesterday, based on your bias and hot air. Boy we're already missing the demise of the once- reputable newspaper reporting.

I can't even fathom how the AM talk radio circus barkers have not mentioned this and it is still the same "fence" talk. NOT A WORD!!! What is the value of a local talk radio host if a story like this goes uncovered. I really have lost all respect for these ass-clown talk show hosts like Kevin James. You really have to check him out for comedy relief. How the mighty have fallen.

And this isn't even a matter of "you can say what you want about Zuma, he's been right before." This isn't about being right...it's simply putting down the same old nutty talk that is being recycled every day, so you can open your eyes and see what is obviously going to be the story of the decade. But until it comes out in LA Times or Daily News, Doug and Kevin just don't know what to say. At least they used to pick up on the Zuma posts, but unless Walter Moore says it, it isn't worth mentioning, I guess. HEY TALK RADIO ASS CLOWNS...THE ELECTION IS OVER...WALTER DIDN'T WIN. HE IS NO LONGER A FACTOR IN LOS ANGELES...WHERE IS HIS BREAKING NEWS ACTIVISM NOW THAT THE ELECTION IS OVER.

SO a message to the talk radio show clowns. You complain that the LA Times does such a lousy job, but you don't even talk about it until the LA Times covers it.

I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THIS STORY CAN SLIP THROUGH THE CRACKS. Take you heads out of your ass people, and put some pressure on the elected officials to do something. Just pretend like an illegal immigrant spent all the money and caused this situation!

How about this, for every dollar you make Doug McIntryre, give Zuma Dogg 56 cents of the dollar. Do you think your family would make it? So that's what's happening in the City. But go back to your same old notes from the past 15 years and talk about that.

I can't believe I even think Doug McIntyre is just one of those right wing talk-wackos, but he isn't giving us anything else. Even Ron Kaye told me that "Doug knows better."

Hey David Hall, didn't you just hire some guy to cover city hall??? Where the hell was he??? If you aren't covering this, what's the f*cking point? I'm sure I'll see everyone when there's talk about an elephant.

If the City Council votes to Amend the City Charter to insure Bratton is in place for the next eight years, the people will move forward with an Amendment to the Charter to place on the ballot making the positon an Elected Office. That way the Chief will be accountable to the people rather than the Mayor and his appointees on the Police Commission.

The Chief may hold office for fifteen years. but he will have to earn it.

"Say what you want about Zuma Dogg, but he's been consistently right in his financial predictions."

What?

Hooo, ha ha ha hoo, ha ha hee hee, HAAA! F-on-my-A-L-ing-out-L!

You are seriously out of your bleeding mind, Higby. Is this an early "APRIL 1" fool's day issue?

No, no, a zillion times no. The Dogg has NEVER been right about ANY "financial predictions."

Next you'll be telling us that the fruity "pirate" dude that used to post here really has a sailing ship docked at L.A. Harbor.

(And, note that this "generic" statement was NOT followed by any examples, BECAUSE THERE ARE NONE.)

The only "financial predictions" the city's loudest and most misguided gadfly has ever made on this blog that ended up being true was when he said he didn't think he'd "have enough gas money to get to City Hall" (without a handout).

"It is the only explanation for Higby's constant pimping of Zuma Dogg."

Or maybe it's because I am the only person attending every single council meeting and am the only person reporting on these local, city issues?

Have you tuned into talk radio lately? Have you looked at Ron Kaye's site lately? He's focusing only on DWP, and "focus" is the most important word in Zuma's marketing book, but Ron ain't blogging about anything besides DWP politics; LA Times/Daily News?, we all know they don't hit up city hall very hard on anything that we don't already know...

So excuse Higby if he includes the most important information that Zuma Dogg feels has ever been presented in the three years of attending council meetings.

If LACERS just lost $7 billion this past year, and the loss is coming out of the general fund at 56% of every dollar, and the city will be bankrupt in the next fiscal budget, and it requires COUNCIL action to take preventative measures to help reduce the financial strain, BECAUSE IT IS ALREADY TOO LATE TO AVOID TREMENDOUS CITYWIDE PAIN, AS IT IS...SO NOW IT IS JUST A MATTER OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ON THE PAITIENT (LA CITY) TO KEEP IT ON LIFE SUPPORT, or else the patient WILL die. I don't know how to be any more emphatic about the situation that you criticize Higby for mentioning among other items.

Maybe he should wait until Walter Moore pipes up about it. Or until Ron Kaye says something. Let's wait until it hits Kevin or Doug's radar...I'm sure David Zahniser of LA Times WILL be covering it soon (probably on a Saturday burried on page 21), so maybe we should wait for all of that to happen, while council sits there and talks about what it will take, then does NOTHING!

I'm tell you people, it's not going to be coming down to decision making at some point, soon. It's just going to be a bunch of people, not getting paychecks -- but I.O.U.'s from the City, and the budget cuts will be simply be made that way.

ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING THAT THE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN OUTRAGED OVER, being the creating of trash collection fees three years ago, the tripling of them, the "UPdating" of parking meter fees (quadrupling), Special Event Fee as covered in LA Times and FOX 11 News recently, condo-conversions in violation of vacancy rates (now put to an end), the forclosure crisis that was coming (predicted six months before it hit the first newspaper headline); that would trigger higher oil prices (that we got); and that the stock market would be bottoming out under the worse economic conditions we have seen it this lifetime (when everyone told me I was full of it, didn't know what I was talking about and it would be boucing right back); the city would be going broke; services and jobs would have to be cut; I COULD GO ON AND ON...IT HAS ALL FIRST BEEN COVERED BY ZUMA DOGG AS HE ALERTS THE MASSES ON TV 35 AS EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THESE ISSUES HAS COME THROUGH THE LA CITY AGENDA...then blogged about.

Check the archives...anything people are complaining about today, has all been covered by Zuma Dogg in the past...BEFORE IT HAPPENS, WHEN THERE IS STILL TIME TO TAKE ACTION. But people like to wait until it comes out in LA Times, when it is already too late, and that's JUST how the city likes it.

So don't be a crybaby-loser, you crybaby-loser...unless Mayor Sam's blog wants to be behind the times, instead of in the present, why wouldn't he include my coverage of the city council meetings? I saw Zanhiser taking all kinds of notes at a fever pace during the item...WHERE'S THE STORY? So excuse me if I'm the only person interview Councilmembers and City Financial experts who were there for the presentation, excuse me for sitting through the presentation that was part of the FOUR HOUR council meeting that I sat through for all of this.

If there were four other new sources on this, then you can mock Higby, but it looks like there's only one person in town covering this stuff. And he does it waking up each day on $0.00 after rolling out of a vehicle. And thanks to the petty A-hole LAPD officers, at 1am last night, who actually stopped ZD, WHILE WALKING ON THE SIDEWALK, because they thought I was drunk driving, even though I told them I haven't drank alcohol in years. WHAT THE HELL ARE LAPD HARRASSING ZUMA DOGG FOR DRUNK DRIVING WHEN I WAS WALKING ON THE SIDEWALK. The whole harrasment session only ended because they saw someone in this residential area, at 1am, without another car in site make a right turn without stopping enough on the brakes.

So the cop says, "Common, we gotta get that car." And the other cop says, "Yeah, I guess they don't know 'California stops just don't cut it."

So the cop says, "Alright, have a nice day." I saw the stop the car made. 1 AM, residential area, not a car in site, the cops were right there, so i doubt the car was trying to break the law. Sure, the car didn't actually make that little backward motion that signals a complete stop, but it just looks like cops driving around looking for sh*t to harrass people over and hope they find something. It was 1am, and the cop was SURE i was drunk cause, "you look really tired, are you SURE you're not drunk." HEY FOOL, it was 1AM, and I was up since 5AM...GUILTY FOR LOOKING TIRED!

Did I just hear Barack Obama say the problem with the school systems is lack of funding? Oh, good; throw more money into a broken system. I guess with more money, you could produce drop-outs more quickly.

NO, the problem is not lack of spending; it's lack of innovation; it's lack of implementing Deming's 14 points. IT'S BECAUSE WE ARE LIVING IN A 21st CENTURY COMPUTER GENERATION, AND THE SCHOOL SYSTEM IS STILL STRUCTURED AND OPERATING UNDER A 1950's MODEL WHEN AMERICANS ALL WENT TO WORK IN THE FACTORIES. There was a reason the system was functioning that way.

Until there is a laptop computer on every school desk, DON'T EVEN TALK TO ME ABOUT SPENDING MONEY ON ANYTHING ELSE. With computers you could and should be able to do more with less teachers.

We have all heard of success stories across the country where a teacher is able to produce outstanding results where others are not able to. WITH THE INTERNET YOU CAN VIDEO THE TEACHER GIVING THE LESSONS, AND KIDS COULD WATCH THE LESSONS ON THE INTERNET.

Also, the best grade I ever received in college was a Biology class (although I actually flunked biology in high school) because it was a computer based class, with NO teacher, just a workbook and the quizzes were given on computer with mulitiple choice, like the Trivia Whiz game.

That was a long time ago.

You cannot reach the kids and keep them interested in the 1950 classroom model. We need more vocation in school.

More to come on how to overhaul the education system. That's an initital take.

But I can see Barack Obama truly is an LA City Councilmember kinda guy as President. So I'm gonna have to start blogging in a way to catch his attention on the 14 points. I KNOW his advisors know about Deming, as I am certain someone with Barack's education, must be aware of, as well.

I just need to get him to remember Deming, because I can clearly see the direction Obama is going here, and if you are going to start making an argument on pouring more money into a broken school system, then y'all better be pulling out your Deming notes from college and read the blueprint for 14 point success, "Interpreting Deming's 14 Points" by one Uncle MC Zuma Dogg.

Hey Barack, Holla at ya boy, 213-785-7272. I'll tell you what it will take to transform the education system. I'll need about five (5) hours in a seminar presentaion environment.

9:34 am- That way the Chief will be accountable to the people rather than the Mayor and his appointees on the Police Commission.

The Chief may hold office for fifteen years. but he will have to earn it."

Sorry, that's the premise, but the proof is in the view you get when you look at the City Council chamber and the Mayor's office.

There is no guarantee of anything. The appointment process might be o.k. if it was done by somebody with any ethics. That would be the mayor and isn't HE elected to office?

The Christopher Commission report on the LAPD issued after the Rodney King riots pointed to "problems" with the status quo, recommended that the Chief be apolitical. The meant NOT getting into partisan politics which Bratton decided (or maybe it was TONY deciding) that he COULD enter the picture.

All that is what's being skipped over.

A+B=C might work for math, but politically, it's still subject to the players and giving too much power usually is a bad choice.=============and if people get tired of Zuma's postings, don't read them.

If he's so insignificant, ignore him.

If he continues posting on MS's- and you want to kick him off, make your own blog and do that.

The bashing is old and most bashers have nothing positive to add; not that I have either, but I'm not into hating, only pointing a few things out that I think should be noticed.

Zuma Beeyotch has to be the poorest damned hard-core capitalist, rock-rib Republican alive today. I guess that makes us the "big tent" party now.

Dude, didn't they tell you that these reactionary right-wing spews you're putting out are reserved for the country club set?

You don't PAY any damn taxes... what the F-ck are you beefing about?

OH, and all the "news" you've broken supposedly? Yeah, so the other unhappy wanabes out there sent you e-mails about their complaints when their elected officials ignored them (usually with good reason), and you posted the details on your pitiful blog, because you have NO inhibitors like "facts" or "truth."

In biblical times, "prophets" were considered false and stoned if they were EVER wrong - even once (not if they lucked out and got something right once in awhile). That's called being a broken watch that's right twice a day.

Thank goodness you already look "stoned" most of the time, so people won't think they have to help out in that regard.

Holy crap i found his by complete accident. You guys are talking about twitter all the time - did you know Jim Alger has nearly 2,000 followers on Twitter? He has been running a DC blog and his latest post is entitled "Why Republicans Hate America."

Zoom-- loved yer "meltdown" at council yesterday re: us taxpayers' 56% fate--I watched the whole debacle; from the Chinese girl, to that grey-haired dude, to the Latino whose name Le Bong forgot "because I don't have my glasses" (!!!)to the white guy named Lopez. And wasn't Miss New Controller, Wendy "I-have-a-five-year-old-and-I'm-REALLY-gonna-cut-costs-at-City-Hall-unless-Tony-says-NO" Greuel strangely silent until the very end. Bottom line: Council doesn't realize all they've promised the cops and firemen in order to get 'em to shut up and keep taking all the abuse from the stupid irresponsible illegal aliens who drain these services. Now as they retire one by one(the cops and firemen, that is, NOT the illegals) it's coming home to roost, much to wimpy Dennis Zine's chagrin. I bet a bunch 'll retire after this next May Day melee! This morning Doug said he wanted to have Herb Wesson on the show re: the charter change/keep Bratton issue, so don't give up on him and Kevin just yet, although it was infuriating when Doug said: "But who could we get other than Bratton to do the job? And crime HAS gone down..." etc.etc.

Wasn't there a motion regarding public financing? That's the way to go if Chief position became an elected office and there would be an even level competiton field. Gee, who would run against Bratton? However, Ron Kaye's group is a perfect example of the people organizing and being more powerful then the Mayor who had millions on Measure B. Speaking of the loser Mayor his friend is going to file bankruptcy. Meruelo is known in the Latino community as a CROOK. He lost $85 million and now takes the easy way out. How much did he give Antonio for Measure B?

.....Downtown Los Angeles' biggest landlord may file for Chapter 11 as soon as today. Several of its subsidiaries already have.Founder Meruelo has been a longtime advocate of downtown and is a well-known figure in the Latino community. He was the largest individual contributor to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's 2005 campaign, donating nearly $200,000.

WE NEED TO SET OTHER PEOPLE IN OFFICE ON THESE CORRUPT CITY POLITIANS GET THE WORD OUT TO WASHINGTON TO OTHER STATES. THEY CAN'T ALL BE CORRUPT. THERE ARE PEOPLE OUTSIDE THIS CITY INTERESTED IN WHAT IS GOING ON HERE. ZUMA IS SURELY PUTTING THERE ACTIVITIES UNDER A MICROSCOPE. I THINK OBAMA WOULD BE INTERESTED TO KNOW HOW MONEY AND POWER IS USED HERE ESPECIALLY WHEN HE'S TRYING TO FIX THIS ECONOMY IN LA AND CALIFORNIA. THESE LA POLITIANS ARE NO DIFFERENT THAN CEO'S OF ENRON OR AIG RIPPING OFF THE PUBLIC.